44/876

7digitalWhat we said:In the pantheon of unexpected musical collaborations, Sting and Shaggy joining forces surely ranks up there with Texas and Method Man, Miley Cyrus and The Flaming Lips, and Jay-Z and, er, Another Level. Thing is, it actually transpires that the former Police-frontman is genuinely firm friends with Jamaica’s least convincing adultery-denier, having initially teamed up for a one-off collaboration in the summer of 2017. United by their shared love of reggae and dancehall, they’ve now conjured an album that Shaggy is billing as “exactly the record the world needs now.” The jury’s still out on whether 44/876 is essential as all that but, with its Caribbean-flavoured stylings, its pre-summer release is certainly extremely timely.